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OT: custom automotive creeper

wheelieking71

Diamond
Joined
Jan 2, 2013
Location
Gilbert, AZ
Anybody ever build their own creeper?
I'm a big corn-fed rowdy boy at 6'1" 320, and I tend to throw myself around some. And I need a creeper.
Looking around the internet, I can't find anything I could just buy (for any dollar amount) that I don't think I could destroy in short order.
Most I don't think would make one serious heavy wrench session under me (I'm not kidding when I say rowdy, LOL). Mostly because of caster quality I guess? But, some are just?
This is why I usually just plant myself right on the concrete. But, I have a ton of wrenching in my near future, some not on the lift, and a creeper would sure make a lot of it easier!
Last thing I want to be doing laying on a creeper is trying to be mindful to not break the creeper.
I know I can build a creeper. This isn't a: can/should I? I'm more so just looking for ideas and/or opinions of what did/didn't work.
I found some stuff on the net. But, the content is terrible. Everybody is like "this is awesome" "You need one". Bla bla bla.....
I get skeptical when there is absolutely nothing bad to say about anything. Not that they are bad creepers. But, everything has a "but......".
Just looking for ideas, that's all. Maybe even something to straight up copy cause "hell yea, that's awesome".
 
Anybody ever build their own creeper?
I'm a big corn-fed rowdy boy at 6'1" 320, and I tend to throw myself around some. And I need a creeper.
Looking around the internet, I can't find anything I could just buy (for any dollar amount) that I don't think I could destroy in short order.
Most I don't think would make one serious heavy wrench session under me (I'm not kidding when I say rowdy, LOL). Mostly because of caster quality I guess? But, some are just?
This is why I usually just plant myself right on the concrete. But, I have a ton of wrenching in my near future, some not on the lift, and a creeper would sure make a lot of it easier!
Last thing I want to be doing laying on a creeper is trying to be mindful to not break the creeper.
I know I can build a creeper. This isn't a: can/should I? I'm more so just looking for ideas and/or opinions of what did/didn't work.
I found some stuff on the net. But, the content is terrible. Everybody is like "this is awesome" "You need one". Bla bla bla.....
I get skeptical when there is absolutely nothing bad to say about anything. Not that they are bad creepers. But, everything has a "but......".
Just looking for ideas, that's all. Maybe even something to straight up copy cause "hell yea, that's awesome".

I ressemble that remark....:D

Think air hockey table upside down.

(3) pieces of Masonite, glued together, bottom one with holes (or pegboard) middle one with slots for air passages, top one solid.
Attach compressed air hose with pushbutton.
 
I have a SHOPSOL creeper at work, and it is very robust, (rated 450#) and altho a little tall for some vehicles, trucks are fine. The one I have at my own shop is a Griot's Garage Cadillac creeper, and the only thing "wrong" with that one is the wheels roll and caster ALMOST too easy- if you try to put some "oomph" into a fastener, you have to set your feet well... That one is rated 350, and I don't doubt it. I put a beefy welded steel frame under one of those mother@#$%!! plastic bodied ones I got tired of dragging the middle on the floor with (I'm only 220#) and 6 big box hardware store caster wheels for reaching the belly of the airplane, and finding wheels which function correctly even on good concrete is a pain in the ass.
 
A better creeper has been on my wish list for awhile. For me, they always seem a tad too thick or hold you up too far off the ground, and the casters are always terrible. We had a wood one years ago with metal wheels that did ok until it broke in half. Our current one is a cheap tubular steel job that the neoprene casters are always getting stuck over the slightest grain of sand or failing to swivel when needed. I mostly would use it to crawl around under classic cars. Not lowered, but without a creeper I can just slide under when they're at ground level (I'm 5'9", 230lbs.)

If I were to build one, I'd incorporate tool trays along the length of them so you can reach tools by your waist or beside your head as I always set them in the wrong spot and end up rolling over them, or moving and not be able to reach them.

Adding some flat LED lights beside your head would be handy too. Then you would be trailing an extension cord but at least you don't have to hold it. The forehead mounted lamps seem like they're always bumping into things under the car for me.

Concerning the wheels, I'm a fan of teeter type carts and wonder if it would work with a creeper. You would have a pair of fixed wheels at your waist as large a diameter as you can have, and a single small caster under your head and feet. The casters are set just a little higher than the fixed wheels so only three wheels are on the floor at one time and if a caster gets hung up you have a little room to tip and get the load off of it so it can re-set itself.
 
I ressemble that remark....:D

Think air hockey table upside down.

(3) pieces of Masonite, glued together, bottom one with holes (or pegboard) middle one with slots for air passages, top one solid.
Attach compressed air hose with pushbutton.

You wouldn't have to worry about sweeping under the truck to get all the rust and dirt that falls off. The rest of the shop might get a bit dirty.
 
I've had one of these for years. 300 # capacity and super low profile.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Lisle-Low-Profile-Blue-Plastic-Creeper-LIS94102/306763161

If you want tool trays easy enough to mount a couple.

Yea, my neighbor has a brand new one of those as well.
Because I borrowed his old one, and destroyed two of the casters in less than 10 minutes.
It was red, and different brand. But exact same creeper. Works fine for him. He is only about 150lbs.
Me? Different story.
 
Yea, my neighbor has a brand new one of those as well.
Because I borrowed his old one, and destroyed two of the casters in less than 10 minutes.
It was red, and different brand. But exact same creeper. Works fine for him. He is only about 150lbs.
Me? Different story.

"It was red, and different brand"

It was NOT a Lisle product, and I've heard similar stories from many who bought the cheap knock-off.

I've had mine for decades and other than being a bit scruffier than when new it's still in fine shape. And FYI I'm not tiny and my body weight normal runs around 200 #.
 
You wouldn't have to worry about sweeping under the truck to get all the rust and dirt that falls off. The rest of the shop might get a bit dirty.

Wheeli has an expoxy floor you can eat off of :D.....plus, when the momentary PB is not depressed, if you step on
it (walking around the truck) you aren't surfing across the floor (like with every wheeled one)
 








 
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